Liberian youth blast President Sirleaf’s Western PR Mastermind

New York – Social media, especially LinkedIn, was abuzz today when dozen Liberian youth blasted one Ms. K. Riva Levinson, a US citizen, allegedly considered the mastermind of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s international public relations, branding and global marketing propaganda machine. The Liberian youth across the globe – from Africa, Europe, Canada, Asia, Australia and the United States – accused Ms. Levinson, who is said to be the president and CEO of KRL International, as one of the westerners who, because of money, continues to exploit Africa’s generosity by supporting corrupt leaders and dictators who squander public funds and abuse their people.

Many of the youth who contacted Globe Afrique say they see no reason why Ms. Levinson’s sole public relations work is focused on Liberia where she gets paid huge amount of money to promote the personal image of President Sirleaf when young Liberian girls are forced to engage into commercial prostitution just to enable them obtain money to go to school, feed their sibling and support their unemployed parents.

Ms. Levinson provoked the anger of Liberian youth when she posted on LinkedIn a T-Shirt image that she said is being sold in Liberia to raise funds to build President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Library, and that it was 3D. The posting drawn a fury from Liberian youth who think the president has exploited the nation and Ms. Levinson’s actions and continuous erroneous public relations activities on behalf of the president have exploited and ruined the lives of Liberian children, women and the elderly as well as the entire country.

While having a presidential library in Liberia is a noteworthy undertaken, the youth are especially unhappy with Ms. Levinson for what some described as “painting a false public profile of the Liberian leader as a wonderful, faultless great leader when living condition in the country is horrible, and when all international reports, including those of the UNDP, USAID, World Bank and WFP, paint a gloomy picture for the country.

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Source: Globe Afrique Media

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Joel Cholo Brooks is a Liberian journalist who previously worked for several international news outlets including the BBC African Service. He is the CEO of the Global News Network which publishes two local weeklies, The Star and The GNN-Liberia Newspapers. He is a member of the Press Union Of Liberia (PUL) since 1986, and several other international organizations of journalists.